vowel aligned lyrics - want to improve it

[Wolf Alight]

Hi Lilyponders

I just wanted to improve the vowel alignment of the lyrics and a few days later I find myself diving deep into the Lilypond with fascination and...yes...some frustration. 

I want to improve the fine code by Carl Sorensen:

http://old.nabble.com/Re:-Lyrics---align-first-wowel-of-a-syllable-under-the-notehead----SUCCESS-td21720060.html

 

which only works for fonts with the same width. With arial for example the alignment for "Mali" comes way off since the M is much wider than the l and the i.  

All (I think) I need help with is to obtain the width of each letter, the rest I could probably do myself. 

I know how to get an elements 'text but not how to get its X-extent (if that is what I should use).   

Does anyone have a clue? Is it even possible to obtain the width of a lyrics element from within an \include file?

Thank's in advance

/Tor 

looking for a dive master